Tag Archives: Beer Advocate

Extreme Beer and the Cute Dudes Who Make It

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Mr. Calagione and a sign made from toast. As usual, thinking outside the breadbox.

Mr. Calagione and a sign made from toast. As usual, thinking outside the breadbox.

Sam Calagione is the president and founder of Dogfish Head, a brewery based in Delaware that is known for its “off-centered” ales, as they lovingly describe them. He is also good-looking (and knows it), charismatic, and a little bit nuts. Somehow the man is able to harvest all these traits and inject them directly into the wort of Dogfish Head brews, producing some of America’s most unique, imaginative, extreme, crazy-ass beers. All this is relevant because the Dogfish Head Brewery is sponsoring Beer Advocate’s 11th annual Extreme Beer Fest in a matter of days.

I have been to exactly one Extreme Beer Fest. (In my memory I was the only woman there, but that can’t be right…) It was there that I met and grazed the fingertips of the legendary Sam Calagione. As strange as some of his beers may be, I have always admired him because of just that, and also because he’s good-looking, as aforementioned. Also, he has an English degree like yours truly, and makes his living in beer, which is totally rad.

Now, when Mr. Calagione tenderly poured me a sample, filled it up to the lip and smiled as he expertly handed it off, I had a question for him. But despite my press pass and the hour or so of courage I’d been sampling, I couldn’t just ask it. Instead I fumbled the pass-off, stepped on the toes of a man behind me, and veered, beer-soaked, back into the fray of increasingly jovial beer extremists.

My question for Mr. C, then: Why? Continue reading →

Dear Santa, I’d Like a Beer.

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I *Heart* Clever T-Shirts! Courtesy TheRoamingPint.com

Have a beer-lover to buy for this Christmas? (If not, add one to your wish list. We’re great people.) The easiest gift is sticking a bow on top of a new or favorite bottle and plopping it in the stocking. We’re easy to please. But if you’re one of those that discourages early-morning drinking on a holiday, I’ve got a couple other suggestions:

As many of you already know, I like books. I spend all day surrounded by them, talking to writers and readers, so I’m partial to the beer book as a  gift. These are a few of my favorites. (Yes, these are all linked to my own bookstore’s website. Go to Amazon, I dare you.)

The Naked Pint: an entertaining and easy-to-read guide about everything-beer, written by two ladies I aspire to be like someday.
Great American Craft Beer: by Andy Crouch, a renowned beer writer, this guide takes the reader through the US, style by style, brewery by brewery.
The Beer Book: a beautiful catalogue of beers from around the world, photographed and explained in the elegant style DK Publishing is known for.
Fermenting Revolution: a history of beer from its roots as a female-led trade to present-day commercial brewing and how beer and breweries are improving our world.

BeerBooks.com is a good place to check for quirky and/or rare books on beer. On the reading theme, there are numerous beer- and beer brewing-related magazines available. Beer Advocate is one of my personal faves; Draft is another. BA is for your beard-and-flannel, make-your-own sort of beer enthusiast; Draft, your sweater vest-and-corduroys, hosts-tastings-and-uses-real-glasses sort of appreciator. Continue reading →